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Tales from the Grave

Reverend Timothy Haut of Deep River Congregational Church will revive the life stories of several notable people buried at Fountain Hill Cemetery during an annual walking tour on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 10 a.m.

“These are not just stone markers with names on them,” Haut said in a phone interview. “They represent rich and full lives.”

The tour, which encompasses certain sections of the 40-acre cemetery, will start at the Wooster Memorial Chapel. The event is free, and no registration is required.

Dating back to 1851, Fountain Hill Cemetery is well known for containing graves with a historical legacy.

“Some of them have become intertwined with the history of our community, but also of our country,” said Haut. “And we don’t want to forget that...That there is a heritage and a history in our cemetery, in our communities, of people whose lives made a difference.”

There are war veterans including one who died in the Battle of Antietam in 1862, one of the deadliest battles of the American Civil War.

Another is Paul Hopkins, a Major League Baseball pitcher, who was born in Chester and died in Deep River at 99 years old.

“One of his claims to fame was that he was the last living pitcher that had thrown a home run ball to Babe Ruth,” said Haut, who added that he got to know Hopkins when he lived in Deep River at the end of this life.

“He got requests all over the country on T.V. shows, talk shows, because of that, but he is buried there. Wonderful guy, he was,” said Rev. Haut.

Other graves highlighted on the tour include a former United State senator, a factory worker who developed anthrax from handling elephant tusks, and the first minister to work with the hearing impaired, as just a few examples.

“The most famous person buried there, who doesn’t have a name, is XYZ,” said Haut.

This person attempted to rob the Deep River Savings Bank at the end of the last century, when the ivory manufacturing business was booming in Deep River.

The robber, who tried to enter the bank through a window, was shot in the head by Captain Harry Taylor, who was standing guard that night. The gunshot wound left the robber unidentifiable.

“They laid out the body in the Town Hall for people to walk by to see if they could recognize it and nobody did,” said Haut. “They got a note, asking that it be buried in the cemetery with a simple wooden marker that said xyz on it.”

What makes the story even more of a curiosity is that the grave is said to have been visited annually by a woman, dressed all in black, who arrived in town by train.

She would place flowers on his grave and leave, said Haut, who noted that no one knew who she was, and no one asked.

Today, people are still fascinated by the story, placing little trinkets on the marker, which is now made of stone.

“People come up there and put coins and jewelry on the grave, I don’t know, as a sign of good luck,” said Haut, adding that there is a legend that his ghost haunts the town in the upstairs of the Deep River Library.

The story of xyz and its association with the folklore of Halloween makes the annual cemetery tour especially attractive at the end of October.

“We have this connection with Halloween, the spirits of the dead,” Haut said. “Cemeteries are fascinating resting places of spirits gone by, so there is a fascination of being connected with that.”